I, Octoling
by AK-4142
Summary: What does it mean to be an Octarian now, your leader gone and the last of the zapfish taken from you? In times like this could an Elite Octoling really put her feelings about inklings aside for the good of her species? Could she take up arms with them against a common foe? Something new and deadly is coming from the ocean and to defeat it will require both inklings and octolings.
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: Hey guys, I'm back again with a new story. Splatoon this time, enjoy!**

'This place isn't like the others.' Agent 3 thought looking around the area she'd been directed to. For one it was entirely underground. This in itself was not unusual, Octo valley was defined by several kettles that the purple ink cephalopods lived in, a number of which led to underground tunnels and chambers. No, what was odd about this place and separated it from the others was that the zapfish was exposed here. The power giving fish which powered all of inkopolis was her target and it sat in the center of the large room connected to the hallway she was in. She put her back against a wall and peered around the corner to plan out her assault.

The container holding the zapfish was in the center of a large courtyard. There were a few octotroopers patrolling the area and looking up above she saw that on a ledge were a few snipers trying to stay hidden.

'A trap huh?' Agent three grinned at the thought. 'These octos think we'll fall for anything.' She spotted a good place to send her seeker and reached for the weapon when a noise behind her caught her attention. She realized what was going on a second too late.

From the same scaffolding above a pair of octolings dropped down. Agent three didn't waste time trying to splat either assailant. Instead she tossed the seeker in a random direction and immediately changed into squid form to follow the moving mine. The octolings were caught off guard and their weapons inked where she'd been a moment before. Swimming through the ink she got behind them and jump out in humanoid form, splatting one in the back before the other could turn and return fire. Agent 3 rolled to the left to dodge the purple ink and kept rolling around another corner for cover. Safely behind the cover she tossed an ink bomb back where the octoling had been. It detonated and she spun around the corner ready to splat whatever was left of her foe. As she rounded the corner she hit something solid.

Or more correctly, something solid hit her face. She realized as she fell that it was a fist and looked to see the octoling she hadn't splatted standing over her, her left arm extended and ending in said fist.

Before the inkling could pull her weapon up the octoshot splatted a trio of globs on her. She felt the ink hit her own weapon and her legs. She fell into a puddle of purple ink and looked up as an elite octoling walked up behind the one still pointing a weapon at her.

~/~/~

"Should we take her prisoner ma'am?" The elite octoling shook her head.

"No, splat all that they send. Then the old squid will stop sending them."

Lea looked down at the wounded inkling and tightened her grip on her octoshot. She took a deep breath, let it out and pulled the trigger. The inkling slumped over and to the octolings horror her head fell onto her boots. She nearly jumped back when a firm hand on her shoulder stopped her.

"Good job there kid." The green ink began to seep onto her boots. "I know it can be a little rough, but you did good out there." The hand left her shoulder but Lea was too shaken to move. "In fact, I'm going to recommend you for a promotion." Lea didn't hear any more of what her superior said. All she could think about was the ink slowly spreading across her boots.

'I sure hope they stop coming.' She thought.

~/~/~

 **1 year later, Octo Valley**

The sun was finally high enough in the sky that its rays could penetrate into the kettle dome that Lea called home. The light started at the door to her small room and slowly crept across the floor as the earth rotated and finally the light hit her eyes. It didn't take long for the solar rays to wake the octoling. Lea didn't want to get up. She didn't want to go to formation. Most of all she didn't want to deal with the world. She turned on her side and tried to go back to sleep, pulling the bed covers tight around her body. After a few minutes she realized it was no use and resolved to simply stare into space from her bed. Her room was still mostly dark, but her eyes could easily spot the picture on the picture tacked up on her wall. Two octolings in shinning new armor and uniforms, both giving victory signs to the camera. There was some writing on the bottom of the photo and while Lea couldn't make it out from across the room, she knew what it said by heart.

' _Remember when we graduated from the academy Sis?'_ Lea frowned at the memory and decided she wanted to think about something else. Reluctantly she pulled off the covers and crawled out of bed. The octoling dodged the bottles she'd emptied and the bits of armor on her floor that she'd let fall when she finally went to sleep earlier that morning and made her way to the small bathroom her kettle had.

She looked at the mirror and was unimpressed at what she saw. The grey color under her eyes had deepened on account of her late night and she blinked a few times in the hopes that they would recede. Failing that she looked at the mess of tentacles on her head. The kelp that marked her as a superior had already begun to turn them from their natural red to black, but there were still large streaks of red. Proof for anyone who looked to see that her promotion had been recent. She shook her head but the mess of suction cups refused to behave. A sigh escaped her lips and she looked at the bathroom clock.

'Still two hours to first formation.' She though looking at the time. Living underground meant that they were not slaves to any kind of day/night cycle. Instead the head octos made a schedule and all the octolings had to follow it. She spat into the sink and turned to start her shower.

~\~\~

An hour and a half later Lea was clean, dressed, armed, and armored. As she walked down the corridor connecting the elite apartments to the rest of the octolings barracks she passed a pair of octotroopers. They glanced up at her as she passed, then looked away quickly. Lea frowned, was the red in her tentacles still that noticeable? She adjusted the kelp in her hair as she walked. The hallway eventually gave way to a larger kettle and in it there were a dozen or so octolings milling about. Some were talking in small groups, others were comparing weapons. Lea walked past these octos to where a pair of elites were conversing. They turned to her as she approached. One gave her a curt nod, while the other, this one without any goggles, smiled.

"Lea, good morning." Her smile stretched the crooked way that her old squad leaders always did. "It's good to see you here this morning." She turned to the other elite. "I'll talk to you more about it later." This Octoling simply gave another nod and wandered off to talk to a pair of lower ranked octolings. Her old squad leader turned back to her. Lea rendered the octarian salute.

"Ma'am." She said. Her squad leader chuckled and returned the salute.

"Lea you've been promoted. It's just Kia now." Lea blushed and lowered her right hand.

"Uh, right ma- er, Kia." The words still felt strange to her. For over a year Kia had simply been Ma'am to her. Kia smiled crookedly again.

"You'll get it. Your tentacles are almost black I see." Lea blushed again.

'Is it that obvious that they're not there yet?' She thought and without thinking reached for them. Kia shook her head.

"Your fine, and I am happy to see you here today. We've lost too many octarians already, we need all the good ones we have left." Lea was about to respond when Kia looked past her suddenly.

"Looks like your number two has arrived." She said with a nod in that direction. Lea looked behind her to see an octoling who stood at least a head above the rest moving towards her with a big smile plastered on her face.

"Good morning ma'am!" She said as she reached Lea. The senior octoling had to look up at her soldier.

"Good morning Ana." Lea examined her subordinate, noting that the octobrush she held in her hands looking comically small. Lea reflected just how little she knew about the tall octoling. Paperwork indicated that she was actually older than she was, but a mix up during her training had her recycled through basic training multiple times. Something like that would have made any other octopus bitter, but Ana always seemed happy. Their entire species stood on the brink of destruction and all she ever did was smile. Ana had her smile on right now and Lea guessed that under her goggles her eyes were just as wide.

"And word on our next move ma'am?" Lea frowned.

"It'll all be explained in the brief." She replied. 'Though I can't imagine what.' She thought. 'We've lost our commander along with the last of the zapfish. Where do we go from here?

"All the same, I have a good feeling about today." Ana spoke up taking Lea out of her thoughts. Lea opened up her mouth to reply when a loud shout caught her attention.

"Form up!" The two octolings dropped their conversation and all of the octos in the area rushed to get into their ranks. All of the elites were in a column on the far right with both Kia and the elite she'd been talking to in front of lea and each officer's respective squad to their left. Lea noticed that while Kia seemed to have almost an entire ten octoling squad in her row, she had less than half that.

'So this is how it looks when you're losing a war.' She thought. In front of her a visibly older octoling stood before the formation. She filled her lungs and called out.

"Splatoon! Attention!" The hundred or so octolings and an equal number of lesser octos in the kettle all snapped to attention. "Squad leaders, bring it in for orders." Lea and the other elites all saluted and started a quick jog to form a semi-circle around their current leader. When they were all there she pulled her goggles up. "Alright ladies check it out. Training will continue as planned for today, first and second squads have the range, third and fourth will conduct Physical training and the rest will run mission lanes with the exception of tenth squad which has valley security this week." There was a murmur of agreement from the assembled elites. Their leader nodded her head. "Additionally, I want the leaders of second and third squads to be here at 0500 hours tomorrow. Locked and loaded with your best uniform on." Lea nodded but her mind wondered the reason.

'An inspection? Am I in trouble?' She thought. The senior octoling took a step back.

"You'll be gone all day so have your squads integrate with first and fourth squad respectively for tomorrows training. That will be all, get formed back up."

~/~/~

"Lea, hold up a minute." The octoling turned around to see Kia walking over to her. The formation had just ended and Lea was preparing to start her squads' morning workout. The senior elite smiled as she reached her. "Do you ever go to the Octopuses Garden?" Lea frowned.

'The club? Why would she ask me that?' She thought as she shook her head.

"No I usually drink at home." She replied, 'cheaper anyway.' Kia gave her a serious nod and her crooked smile crept out.

"I see, well you should check it out. I heard there's a new singer there and she's pretty good." Lea gave her a slow nod.

"Ok, maybe I will." 'What is this about?' Kia smiled wider and nodded again.

"I really think you should go see her. Tonight. The show starts at seven." Lea opened her mouth to ask what her old squad leader meant but the octoling turned around as soon as she finished talking and walked over to her own squad. "Alright, everyone go to attention. I got a full day of training ready for you." Behind her Lea frowned before turning to address her own squad.

"Third Squad, Attention! Half-right, Face! Push-up position!"

~/~/~

" _Somewhere…beyond the sea…Somewhere, waiting for me….My lover stands on golden sand, and watches the ships, that go sailing."_ Lea turned her attention away from the stage and back to the bar she sat at. Not that the Octoling on stage in the red dress wasn't talented, because Lea was impressed with her voice, but because her drink was more interesting to her now. She took and sip and closed her eyes, relishing the burn of the liquid as it slid down her throat.

"What're you having? It looks good." Lea nearly choked on the mixed drink in surprise as she looked over to see Kia, now in civilian clothing like herself, sitting next to her at the bar. Lea regained her composure and swallowed.

"Sea water and rum." She replied. Kia chucked once and waved to the bartender. The lesser octo behind the bar started to wander over.

"I should have known you'd be drinking something legitimately dangerous." She turned to the bartender. "Tentacle ale." The octo walked off and Kia just starred at Lea. Lea for her part tried to ignore the stare at first but by the time her former squad leaders' pint had come she couldn't stand the crooked smile.

"Alright what is it? Why are we here?" Kia dropped her smile and reached for her glass.

"Don't think I don't know what day yesterday was." She took a large drink. "She was under my command then. You both were." Lea shook her head and drained her glass.

"Wasn't your fault ma'am." She muttered. The bartender looked over and she nodded. Kia took a sip before speaking.

"They are all my fault. Every one of them who didn't make it to the next formation. They are my fault because they were my responsibility. That's the biggest part of being in charge of people." Another sip. "Taking responsibility. I put your name up for elite because I knew you could handle that." Lea's next drink arrived and she went right to it. "But that doesn't mean that you need to take on the responsibility of something that wasn't you fault." The song finished and a light applause filled the club. Even so it wasn't loud enough to cover the sound of Lea slamming her empty glass down on the bar top.

Kia watched as her former subordinate gripped the glass so tightly she thought it was going to break but after a moment she relaxed.

"Thank you ma'am, but I'll be ok." She said. An uncomfortable silence stretched between them and the next song started.

" _Well I love the chase, till the minute I win it. A beautiful face, delirious love for me in it. Give me your heart, and baby I'll bail it. 'Cause I always kill, the things I love."_ Lea took a deep breath.

"Was that all you asked me out to talk about tonight?" She asked. Kia went back to staring at her again and Lea reached into her jacket pocket for her wallet to pay for the drinks.

"No." Lea's head snapped back to her superior. "No it wasn't." She took another large gulp of her beer and waved for another. "I wanted to talk to you about your mission tomorrow. Where do you think you're going after you board the UFO?" Lea shrugged.

"I have no idea." She replied. Kia's beer arrived and she took a large sip. "Where?" Kia smiled at the bartender, then jerked a thumb to the left. The octo nodded and disappeared through a door to the back.

"You're going to inkopolis." She said taking a large sip. Instantly all of Lea's anger drained out of her along with the red in her cheeks the alcohol had put there.

"What?" Kia took another drink.

"You heard me. You'll be guarding an important VIP too." She turned to face Lea, a serious shadow covering her face. "I don't know all the details, but this mission is important. Really important." Lea, suddenly sober, leaned forward.

"Why?" Lea's mind raced with the possibilities. 'Could it be sabotage, messing up one of the squids big parties? Or it might be some kind of recon mission, figuring out what the deal was with all that 'fresh' lingo? Or maybe even another zapfish raid?' Kia looked around the room quickly, but ever other octo was watching the singer on stage so she leaned in.

"Diplomacy." Lea blinked.

"What?" This time she was sure that she had heard her superior wrong. Kia nodded and Lea's mind started spinning. 'That can't be right. No, it's impossible. It can't be.' A dozen variations of that sentence shot through her brain but what came out was,

"That's…that can't be." Kia shook her head.

"It is. Now I'm telling you this tonight so that you don't lose your cool tomorrow when the UFO touches down there and an Inkling is waiting on the tarmac." She took another swig of her beer. "I don't know what this is about, but I need you to keep your head in the game and not do anything stupid." Lea took a deep breath and shook her head.

"I don't get it. Why should we deal with inklings…and why do I have to play honor guard around those…squids?" Kia's crooked smile crawled onto her face.

"Well you may not have noticed in formation but there aren't too many elites left in the valley," she pointed to her face." and you don't take an octopus whose face is all scarred up on a friendly mission." Lea shook her head again.

"I don't like this ma'am." Kia nodded this time and reached for something in her jacket.

"You don't have to like it, you just need to follow orders." She smiled again. "You're a good soldier and if I though you couldn't handle this stuff, you would still have red tentacles." Kia put her wallet on the bar top. "I got this. You go home and clean your armor, then get some sleep." Lea nodded slowly and stepped off her chair.

"Thank you ma'am." She said, Kia was mid swig and only raised a hand to wave in goodbye. Lea started out of the club just as the octoling on stage was finishing her song.

" _I wouldn't need to wait for my share of sorrow, 'cause I always kill, the things I love."_

~/~/~

 **Somewhere in the ocean east of Inkopolious**

"Sea snail duty, that's all I seem to get these days." The other inkling in the fishing boat looked over at his complaining partner and shook his head at the inkling. "What? Don't tell me you want to be here."

"No I don't, I'd rather be getting my turf war on, but guess what?" It was the first inklings turn to shake his head and he looked at the sky.

"Here we go again."

"Someone, had the bright idea that we'd make more money working for the city then we would inking turf so here we are." He reached out and gripped the edge of the net that hung off their boat. "This was your idea, so don't complain, just help me with these nets." The first inkling reached over the side of the boat and got a good hold on the net as well.

"We do make more, and I figured we wouldn't draw fishing duty all the time." They started to haul it up. "I'd take any work from the city over this one." He chuckled. "I was really hoping we'd get a job at the news station." With a grunt they pulled the net and it's contents onto the deck. "I mean that Marie man." The other inkling stopped messing with the net and pointed a finger at his coworker.

"Hey. You know deep down that Callie is the best." The first inkling shook his head.

"C'mon. You gotta love that sass. I mean-" He cut himself off as something in the net caught his eye. "Hey what's that?" The other inkling moved to see what he was pointing to.

"Hey there's something on some of these…no all of these shells." The first inkling undid the net and grabbed one of the sea snail shells. He held it up to better examine it.

The shell looked like any other sea snail home except it'd been splatted with some kind of grey ink. He turned the shell over to see a trio of grey bulbs attached.

"What the squid?" The inkling reached out to touch one of the bulbs when they all popped open, revealing a mess of tendrils from each. Before he could drop the shell two of the bulbs hurled themselves at the inkling and attached themselves to his neck and face. He dropped the shell and tried to pull the bulbs off. He pulled on the bulb on his face and in doing so he fell over.

His coworker rushed over to help him, finding the inkling motionless on the deck. He grabbed his friends' shoulders and gave him a gentle shake.

"Hey man are you alright? Man?" The other inkling was completely knocked out. He looked at the weird bulbs on his friends face and frowned. He set the other inkling down and ran over to the ships cabin, grabbing the radio as soon as he reached it.

"Base this is snail boat 4. I have a medical emergency." The voice at the other end of the line responded immediately.

"Rodger Boat 4, what is the nature of your emergency?" The inkling swallowed hard.

"Mike is…one of the crew has been knocked out after being exposed to something." He took a deep breath. "He's not looking too fresh."

"Understood, we're spinning up a rescue. What are your current coordinates?" A clattering sound turned his attention away from the radio. The inkling looked behind him and what he saw stopped the blood in his veins. There, standing just outside the door to the boats cabin was the same inkling who had just expressed his preference for Marie, only he looked different. Wrong.

"Uh, man? Are you ok?" He stepped into the cabin and he saw that the bulbs from the snail shell were firmly attached to his face and his eyes and tentacles had both turned the same dull grey. His eyes went even wider when he saw the splattershot from the boats emergency armory in his friends' hand. "H-hey mike, what're you-"

There was silence for several seconds after the grey ink covered everything inside of the cabin before the radio operator spoke up.

"Boat 4? Boat 4 come in."

 **A/N: I know what you're thinking: "Jim, why not finish the stories you've been working on forever first?" Don't worry I am working on those stories too, I just had a rush of inspiration with splatoon and I had to put it into words. As always thoughts, comments, and observations are always welcome.**


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N: Hey guys I forgot to mention, Splatoon,** _ **Beyond the Sea**_ **, and** _ **I always Kill the things I love**_ **are not mine and belong to their respective owners.**

At 0445 hours Lea sat on a low wall along the edge of the kettles courtyard where she'd been in formation less than 24 hours ago. She'd stayed up an extra hour after she got home from the club to clean her armor and weapon. Now her chest wear shone brightly and her octoshot was spotless. She checked that her inktank was full, attached, and secure against her back for the fourth time since she had arrived and finally let out a sigh.

'So I really am nervous.' She thought to herself. The octoling shook her head and looked around but the other elite hadn't shown up yet. She turned her attention up to one of the screens that covered the ceiling of every kettle. This one showed what looked like some kind of overpass. The camera must have been up high and the angle was steep so she couldn't see much but as she watched an inkling came into view. Said Inkling had orange tentacles and some kind of strange weapon they were using to spray the ground with ink. No sooner had they appeared then they stepped out of the frame. Lea watched for another moment as a second inkling, this one with blue tentacles, stepped into the frame. This inkling sprayed over the orange ink on the ground and took off after the first one. 'Some kind of gang war?' Lea thought as the inkling dashed out of the picture. She shook her head.

"I don't understand inklings at all." She said aloud.

"How's that?" Lea jumped a little at the noise and turned to see that the other elite had arrived. The same one that Kia had been talking to yesterday who never seemed to take off her goggles.

"Uh, nothing I was just watching the screens." This elite looked up at the same screen and nodded.

"It's that 'Fresh' thing I don't get." She said. Lea heard the sound of a vehicles engine getting closer. "It's Mia by the way." She held out her hand and Lea shook it.

"Lea." She replied. Mia nodded.

"Kia had a lot of good things to say about you." Lea blushed.

"Uh, really?" Mia smiled and opened her mouth to say something else when the horn of a jeep sounded.

"Ladies! Get in!" They turned to see the old octoling from yesterday sitting in the passenger seat of on octo jeep. "I'll be briefing you in route to the airkettle." Both elites rushed over to the jeep and piled into the back and the driver took off. They drove out of the kettle onto what passed for a highway through the valley that connected the kettles. Lea could just see the sun rising, as well as the silhouette of inkopolious in the distance that the rising star created. The senior octoling turned around in her seat.

"Alright listen up 'cause I won't have time to repeat myself. One month ago we received a message from the inkling government. While this would normally have been ignored, it was delivered in person by veteran of the last great turf war whose deeds from back then still carry a lot of weight in the valley. We, the octarian race, have been invited to official peace talks." Lea tried to look surprised since she wasn't sure Kia was supposed to tell her, but when she glanced at Mia she saw no visible reaction. "Therefore," Their commander continued. "You two will be escorting a high ranking diplomat to inkopolious for the purpose of conducting these talks." She paused and sighed. "I don't like inklings more than any other octopus and I don't expect you two to do so either, however the head octos agree, and so do I, that we cannot continue to fight a lousing war. To that effect I expect you both to display for the inklings the honor inherent in the octarian race." She looked right at Lea. "No incidents. These talks are too important." Lea slowly nodded. "That said the safety of the diplomat is your top priority. If you don't think he is safe for any reason, exfill and return to the valley immediately."

'He?' Lea thought. 'This really must be important then.' The jeep pulled off the mostly empty highway and towards a large kettle with no roof.

"While you're there follow the diplomats lead and his instructions. We want to make as good an impression as we can." The jeep entered the kettle and Lea spotted a large UFO waiting on the tarmac. They pulled past the terminal building and an octotrooper opened the gate to the flight line for them. "Also, keep your eyes open for anything the whole time. The screens only tell us so much about the inklings so keep your ears open too. Anything you see, hear, or experience may be important to our learning about the squids." The jeep stopped near the UFO. "I'll debrief you when you get back. Good luck."

Lea and Mia both climbed out of the jeep and hurried over to the waiting UFO. Standing just at the entrance to the aircraft was the octo they had been charged to protect. Both elites reached him and the same time and in sync gave the male octoling a sharp salute.

"At ease ladies." He said without returning the salute. "I'm Octavian." Lea took a quick second to take in the octoling. He looked about as tall as Ana, though more gaunt the way that octoling males always seemed to be. His tentacles were short and pulled the right side of his face. They seemed to stay fixed no matter how he moved his head. No male octolings are in the Octarian armed forces and this one didn't look like an exception. He was dressed in a dark suit with a purple tie rather than a uniform or armor. A small purple octopus pin on his lapel completed the outfit. "The UFO is still being fueled up, but once it's ready we'll be off." He reached into his jacket and pulled out a pack of inksticks and a lighter. He held the pack out to the elites but both women shook their heads. He chuckled and pulled one out.

"Are you two up to speed on the mission?" He asked as he tapped the inkstick against the pack. Both elites nodded. He put the stick in his mouth and lit it.

"Good. Just follow my lead and try not to stare."

~/~/~

The UFO streaked across the sky, carrying the octolings out of the valley they called home and to the large buildings of the Inkling capital. The sun was higher now and the all of lights in the skyscrapers had gone out. The pilot had turned off the seatbelt light and Lea took the opportunity to go up to the cockpit for a better look. The octoling flying the craft looked over her shoulder as she stepped in the cockpit then turned her attention back to the city she was approaching.

"We're starting our final approach now." She said as Lea slid into the copilots' seat.

"What part of the city will we be landing in?" The pilot pointed to a flat area in the distance.

"The airport. They've cleared out about half of it for us." A light started blinking on the console. "Looks like they're ready to talk us in." She pressed the button next to the light.

"Unidentified air craft this is the tower, please identify yourself and state your intention." A voice in the higher pitch of an inkling said. The pilot shook her head.

"This is Uniform Fox Oscar one." She said into her headset. "Carrying VIP from Octovalley and requesting permission to land." There was a pause Lea frowned at the static. There was nothing she could do if they decided to inkstrike them out of the sky. "Don't worry." The pilot said, seemingly noticing her worry. Immediately after that the voice came back.

"Rodger Uniform, you are clear to land on runway two. Please proceed to hanger 14."

"Understood Tower, starting my descent." She turned off the radio. "Better tell the VIP to get ready." She said to Lea. The octoling nodded and she took one last look as the city they were passing before heading back. Big, clean , colorful buildings. Nothing in the valley could compare.

'Look at what you can do with a few zapfish.' She thought.

~/~/~

Having come to a complete stop the side of the UFO opened to let its passengers out. Mia was the first out, looking both ways before stepping out all the way with Lea behind her. The elite octolings took up a position on either side of the door and let Octavian step out. The male octoling had a large smile on his face. Lea by contrast kept her expression natural. In her head, however, she was gawking at their opposite numbers.

A trio of Inklings stood in front of them. Two, a blue tentacle colored male and an orange tentacled female, in uniforms identical to those that the agents used when they operated in the valley, and the third in a dark suit with a turquoise tie that matched his tentacles. There was a path with a carpet laid out between the two groups and on either side of the path were large groups of inklings. Some looked to Lea like police officers there to manage the crowd while others looked like journalists or photographers. Lea scanned the crowd for any threats, but even the cops looked to be unarmed. The only thing anyone in the crown seemed to be carrying were cameras. What caught her eye more were the colors. Any big event she'd been to in Octovalley had been dominated by reds with the occasional black but here it seemed like every inkling got their own color. It was, Lea thought, quite beautiful. The squid in the suit began walking toward them with barely contained excitement.

"Greetings and welcome to Inkopolious." He said as he reached their group. Lea noticed his bodyguards had moved closer but were keeping a respectful distance. He held out his hand to the male octoling. "You must be Octavian." There were a few flashed from cameras in the crowd as they shook hands and the inkling continued. "My name is Richardson and may I say, you all are looking quite fresh." This comment elicited a murmur of agreement from the assembled squids while Lea and Mia could only glance at each other and give a small shrug. Octavian on the other hand gave a warm smile.

"Thank you, it's a pleasure to meet you. I must that your city is quite impressive from the air." The reminder that octarians possessed UFO technology hidden in the compliment was not lost on Lea. The inkling only chuckled.

"The air does not really do it justice. I'm excited to show it to you up close."

'They sound like old friends.' Lea thought. 'Even though they just met.' She turned her head to take another look at the crowd when the squid bodyguard opposite her, the blue male, caught her eye. At least, what he was doing did. He was staring at her. Lea shifted her head so that even with her goggles it was clear that she was staring back at him and he averted his gaze, suddenly finding the crowd much more interesting. 'What was that about?' She wondered. 'Is it the red in my tentacles again?' she blushed a little and mentally cursed how long the kelp was taking to change her appearance. 'I wonder if inklings have the same problem.' She thought. The two diplomats moving towards the hanger pulled her back to reality and she followed after them with Mia. One of them on each side. The Inkling guards did the same thing and Lea found herself walking next to the blue inkling.

"H-hi I'm Ian." He whispered in a friendly tone, though Lea noticed he stuttered. Lea was going to ignore him when she remembered Octavian had said to follow his lead. She frowned and whispered back.

"Lea." The inkling gasped a little, 'Maybe he didn't think I'd reply?' She thought. They reached the vehicles though Ian had more to say.

"I've, uh, never seen an octoling with red and black tentacles." Lea frowned and turned to face him.

"Is something wrong with my tentacles?" She said much louder. The Inkling shrunk back.

"No no, I think their pretty fresh. Really!"

'There's that word again.' Lea thought. She figured it must be something good.

"I was hoping we'd get right down to business, but there's been an issue at the building." The potential problem pulled Lea's attention back to her job and she turned away from the Inkling. Octavian raised an eyebrow.

"Oh? Nothing major I hope." The inkling shook his head.

"No not at all. I simply thought that maybe we could watch a few turf wars while we wait. Inklings come from all around to compete in the turf wars here." Octavian made a show of checking his watch.

"I don't see why not." He said at length. The inkling smiled and they both began to enter the waiting limo. Mia and the orange inkling got in as well while Ian lead Lea over to a jeep which Lea noticed was not unlike the octarian version she'd been in a few hours ago. Once they were both in Ian pulled out ahead of the limo and onto a busy road. This highway was completely different from the one in Octovalley. It was packed with cars rather than littered with wrecks, and any part that was in need of repair had a construction crew on it. For the first time it donned on her just how many inklings there were. Sure she knew they had a big city, but It hadn't really hit her until now. She shook her head and turned to Ian.

"What exactly is a turf war?" Lea asked the squid. Ian looked at Lea in surprise before turning his attention back to the road.

"Uh, don't you guys have turf wars?" Lea shot him a glare.

"Will there be any danger?" She asked. Ian looked at her again for a second then shook his head.

"No, of course not!" He turned off the busy road they were on and onto a city street. "Turf wars are a sport. Inspired by the, uh, Great Turf war…" He trailed off realizing who he was talking to. Lea realized that the large dome ahead of them must be their destination if this was going to be a sport. "Maybe, uh, maybe it'll just easier to show you."

 **A/N: Thoughts, comments, observations?**


	3. Chapter 3

From where the VIP box sat Lea could see the entire 'field.' Octavian and Richardson were enjoying lunch in another part of the arena with Mia and the female inkling on guard there. This left Lea an Ian to go ahead to check where they would be watching the match. The box, while lavish, was clean and now the two bodyguards were making sure no one else entered the area before the match, which was, apparently, not for another hour. Predictably most of the seats in the arena were still empty and no matter how hard she tried, Lea couldn't see any threats.

"Are these matches usually this big of an event?" She asked. Ian must have been caught off guard because he stuttered at first.

"W-well not really, but these two teams have always been rivals and…" He trailed off and rubbed his neck. Lea motioned with her hand for him to continue. "And Richardson is really excited to show off turf wars to you octolings." Lea tried to glare at him, but with her goggles on she just ended up looking confused. "Turf wars are probably the biggest part of Inkling culture." He explained. "Even kids play." Lea frowned,

'Kids play in a war?' She chalked it up to their weird culture and took another look at the field. She reflected that it did look similar to an octarian MOUNT course. There were walls of different sizes to use for cover, a few fences that one would have to switch forms to get through, and platforms of a variety of heights. The only big difference was large circular tower in the center. Lea rocked back on her heels.

"How does it work?" She still couldn't imagine how a sport based on the Great War would play out.

~/~/~

The waiter brought a pair of steaming plates to their table and Octavian made sure to use a warm smile when he thanked the inkling. He glanced over at Richardson, but like himself the inkling looked like he really was hungry. That suited him fine, he needed the break from small talk to think.

The ball was now in the inklings court. I'd been there since he'd orchestrated this detour. Not that there was a set itinerary for the days events, but he now had to sit and pretend to enjoy an inkling sport in front of a large public. The effect Richardson was probably hoping for would be to impress on him just how strong their society was that they could afford such an event. Smart. He'd have to try it himself someday,

'Maybe on the lobsters.' He mused as he took a few bites of the food, sure to look only mildly impressed and not until he'd chewed it three times. He checked the thought, he needed to regain the initiative. They were already going into the talks in a weak position, 'but if I can find a way to turn this around,' he thought with a glance at the inkling, 'then it'll have the opposite effect that he wants.' Richardson took a few more bites and Octavian did the same. 'I just need an opportunity.'

Out of the corner of his eye the octoling noticed the inkling bodyguard put a hand to her headset, nod, then lean in to talk to Richardson. Octavian began cutting another piece of his meal, but watched for his opposite numbers reaction. To his surprise the inklings eye twitched and he turned slightly pale. Richardson took the opportunity to play friend.

"Something wrong my friend?" The inkling swallowed and shook his head.

"Bad news I'm afraid. One of the players has been…" he watched the inkling choose his words. "Has taken ill. He won't be able to play today." Octavian tried to look both worried and disappointed.

"Well I hope he's all right." Richardson nodded.

"Me too. Though I'm afraid this may cancel the match." Octavian turned his head to one side.

"Surely there's a backup player?" Richardson shook his head and poked at his food.

"I wish that was the case, but these are very talented teams, otherwise I'd ask Ian or Sarah here to step in." He said with a gesture to his bodyguards. Octavian saw his chance.

"Hmm…Mia?" He called to the Octoling standing guard a respectful distance away. The Elite moved next to him.

"Sir?" She replied making the one word a question.

"Between you and Lea, who is the better shot?" Mia didn't have to think about the answer.

"Lea is the best shot in the splatoon sir." Octavian nodded thoughtfully.

"I see," He turned to look Richardson in the eye. "Perhaps one of my girls could sub in for the missing teammate." Richardson nearly dropped his fork.

"Uh, well…" Octavian smiled inwardly. "I…could never ask such a thing." He finally said. Octavian brushed off the comment with a wave.

"Nonsense, we'd be happy to show off some of our Elites skills." He turned to Mia. "Can you radio Lea?"

~/~/~

"Lea this is Finn, he's the team captain for one of the turf war teams that will be playing today." Lea nodded in greeting at the green inkling. Unlike the other inklings she'd met this one was dressed more casually in a tee shirt and cap.

'Is this why he called me down here? To meet another inkling?' She thought. Octavian continued talking.

"Now one of Finn's teammates has been injured and won't be able to play today. Mia also tells me you're the best shot in your splatoon is that right?" Lea nodded again.

"Yes sir." She didn't see how the two events were related. Octavian smiled.

"Excellent, then you should have no problem filling in for his team." Once again Lea was sure she'd somehow heard her superior wrong.

"I'm sorry sir?" She put the right emphasis on the last word to make it a question rather than rude.

"I think this would be a good opportunity to show these inklings the skills our Octarian elites possess, wouldn't you agree?" Lea's eye twitched under her goggles.

"Yes sir." She replied. Octavian smiled wider.

"Excellent. Mr. Finn if you could show Lea where she can get ready. I think you'll find her a valuable member of your team." Finn looked at Lea for a long moment before shrugging and motioning for her to follow him.

"This is going to be tough to sell to the team." He said to himself.

~/~/~

"Hey guys, bring it in real quick." The two other inklings in the locker room looked up from their gear. Lea watched as their gaze and expressions went from hopeful at their leader, to confused at her. "I'd like you all to meet Lea." He said with a gesture to the octoling. "Lea this is the team. That's Roy there in blue and Mary in pink." She nodded at each inkling and they nodded back.

"It's…Nice to meet you both." She said, still searching for the right words. 'When Kia told me about this mission I didn't think I'd be doing this much talking.' She reflected. Lost in her thoughts for a second, she didn't realized Roy had approached her and put an arm around her shoulder.

"So, you wanted a behind-the-scenes look at turf wars huh? That's cool. I bet you're the first Octoling to ever come back here." He tried to guide her to his locker but, Lea ducked out of the embrace. She tried to glare at him but, again, her goggles messed up the expression.

"Roy" Finn tried to get his teammates attention, but the blue inkling didn't seem to notice.

"Let me show you my gear, that way you know who to look for when you watch the match." He started going through his locker.

"Roy…" He tried again. Lea glanced over at the female inkling who just shook her head. Roy continued talking

"I'll be honest with you, I'm a pretty big deal when it comes to turf wars."

"ROY!" Finn finally yelled. The blue inkling spun around.

"You need something boss?" Finn shook his head.

"Lea is going to fill in for Mark as our last member." Lea though she could see the gears turn in the inklings head.

"…What?" Finn nodded.

"You heard me. We're short a person and Lea is a top rate Octoling elite." Roy seemed to be frozen in thought, but Mary shook her head.

"Can we really switch out our roster now? Even with an Octoling?" Lea caught the change in tone as she said the second sentence but chose to ignore it. She didn't like inklings either and knew that as soon as the peace talks were over she wouldn't have to deal with them anymore. Finn shook his head.

"There's been an emergency injury so they'll let us have a replacement." He looked over at Lea. "And being the first team to have an Octoling on it. That's as fresh as it gets." Lea still wasn't quite sure what he meant by that, but Mary cocked her head to one side and seemed to think it over. After a moment she nodded.

"Alright, but what's she going to use? She's not touching my gear." Finn nodded and pointed to a slightly open locker.

"She'll use Mark's stuff." He turned back to Lea. "Take a look through that locker and pick out some gear you like. You'll need a top, some shoes, some headgear, and a weapon." Lea turned her head to one side.

"Why can't I just wear what I have on now?" Finn shook his head.

"Turf war gear is…different. Plus you need stuff that will change color with you." Lea raised an eyebrow but once again her goggles distorted the expression. Finn took it as understanding and smiled. "Good, once you're suited up head though those doors and get on the spawn. Don't worry about your tentacles, we'll be using purple ink." Without another word Finn started going through his locker and emerged with a long barreled weapon. He headed out the door he'd pointed to and Lea watched Mary go that way as well, a pistol sized weapon in her hand. Roy finally seemed to find himself and pulled out of his locker what Lea thought was a stupidly large weapon.

"What's that?" She asked. Roy's smile from earlier came back.

"It's my ink roller." He hefted the weapon. "I handle mostly turf, Finn handles the other team, and Mary does a little of both." Lea bit her lip.

"So where do I fit in?" She asked. Roy smiled wider.

"Wherever you want." He said with a wink and headed out the door. Lea shrugged as she watched him go and turned back to the locker.

"Wherever I want." She repeated to herself. She looked at the various weapons in the locker and frowned. There was another of those big rollers, a rounded futuristic looking pistol, and a truly weird weapon with two barrels. 'These all look strange.' She thought. She decided she'd find something to wear first. Lea looked through all of the clothing hanging up and to her surprise found a purple shirt with writing in Octarian. She set the shirt and a pair of matching sweat bands on the bench along with a pair of black trainers. She changed shoes, and put her boots and goggles into the locker.

She started taking off her armor, undoing the straps around her shoulders the pulling the metal chest plate off. She placed it in the locker as well and reached down to take off her black tank top. As she was pulling the shirt over her head tentacles she heard something fall behind her. Military fast she ripped off her shirt and spun around to see what had made the noise.

Standing in the doorway there was Ian, a weapon in his hand and a huge blush on his face. Lea looked at him in confusion.

"Ian? What're you doing he-" She realized she was facing him with nothing but her bra on. She blushed as red as Ian and tried to cover herself with her hands. Ian spun back around the door to the locker room, dragging the inktank that had made the sound behind him.

"Uhh, sorry Lea. I just wanted to bring you a few things." His arm appeared from around the doorframe holding something. Lea scowled pulled on the tee before walking over to the door. What she saw in Ian's outstretched handmade her eyes light up.

"An octoshot?" She said with surprise as she took the weapon from the inkling. She'd left her own weapon with Mia.

"Not exactly." Ian said from the other side of the door. "It's a replica that you can use in turf wars, but it works the same as a real one." Lea heard clinking and Ian's arm held out the inktank he'd dropped. Lea looked at the replica. True to his words, it looked to function the same as a real octoshot. "I thought you might not be used to any inkling weapons so…" Lea felt her cheeks burn.

"…Thank you." She said, taking the inktank in her other hand and slinging it over her shoulder. She was grateful for the familiar weapon. She looked it over again and noticed a button on one side that didn't belong there. "What's this button?"

"Where?" Ian's voice asked.

"It's right by the…here." She reached around the door frame and grabbed the front of Ian's uniform. She pulled the inkling into the room and pointed to the odd aperture. Ian still looked a little red, but he regained his composure when he saw what she was pointing to.

"Oh, that's for your special." Lea turned her head to the side so he continued. "When you've inked enough turf you can press that to activate it. For this weapon it's an inkzooka." Lea bit her lip. It made enough sense but she still didn't really understand.

"I guess I'll see when I get out there. Thanks for the help." Ian blushed again and looked to the side.

"N-no problem." Above them a red sign turned on that read.

2 MINUTES TO GAME START

Ian suddenly looked back at her. "Oh, I almost forgot. Here." He held out a set of headphones that she took. "Most of the hats are made for inkling tentacles, so these should sit around your tentacles better." Lea took the headphone and looked them over. Purple and black, she found them kind of cute. She reached up to put them on and found she still had her kelp in her hair. She didn't have time to mess with the locker.

"Hey can you hold onto these for me? I...don't want to lose them." Ian nodded.

"No problem." Lea smiled at the inkling for the first time put on the headgear. Fully equipped she ran out the door towards the spawn. Still standing in the doorway holding her kelp Ian smiled and watched her leave.

"Good luck."

~/~/~

"Hey looking pretty good there octoling!" Finn called from the purple colored pad the rest of the team was standing on. Lea blushed as she adjusted the octo tee she'd picked out of the locker. "Ready to go?" She stepped onto the pad next to the inklings and nodded.

"I think so." She still wasn't really sure what to expect. She'd been in combat dozens of times, but this one was a sport somehow. She didn't get it. Roy was standing next to her on the pad and looked over approvingly.

"Replica huh? I figured you'd pick that one. Good choice." Lea found her hands checking the weapon and tank the way she had early that morning.

'I guess I'm nervous again.' She thought. The pad started to light up. Finn looked back at her.

"You'll do fine out there, just remember the basics; Ink the base and walls don't count as turf." Lea nodded. The pad they were on began to glow and Lea felt herself being forced into octopus form…

 **A/N: What are you all thinking so far?**


	4. Chapter 4, Turf War!

"Sir?" Richardson slowed his pace so that he could talk to his bodyguard with the octoling out of earshot.

"Sarah?" The uniformed inkling looked uncomfortable.

"You do know the real reason that the other turf war battler isn't here don't you?" Richardson nodded gravely.

"So he was infected. Damn." He searched his thoughts for a moment, looking for the best solution. "No matter, do they have him? Is he restrained?"

"Yes sir." The inkling adjusted his tie.

"Good, have him brought here. I want our guests to know exactly why we're reaching out to them."

~/~/~

Lea felt as though she was being forced through an inkrail backwards. When she did spawn on the pad and was forced back into humanoid form she felt sick. She shook off the excess ink and looked around to see that her 'team' had all changed their tentacles to the same purple as octarian ink. A counter was beeping off from somewhere and she tied to focus on it to keep her stomach in check. The arena ahead of her looked completely different from ground level she noted and as the beeping counted down she found herself checking her weapon again.

'Here goes.' She thought. The tone of the beeping changed and she watched the team spring into action.

Finn instantly raised his long weapon and fired a burst of ink. The result was long path of ink that Mary wasted no time jumping into. Moving as fast as she could in squid form she reached the end of the ink and disappeared through a fence. Finn fired off a few more shots before copying Marys' move, swimming through a different ink trail. Lea looked behind her to see that Roy was using his roller to cover the area behind and around their spawn. He winked at her and the octoling shook her head.

"Alright let's go." She said to herself. She shifted into octopus form and swam down another ink trail that Finn had created. The purple path took her to the right of the arena and as soon as she reached the end of the trail she jumped out she began spraying the turf around her. The immediate area was clear so she sprayed a trail up the nearest wall and swam up there for a better view.

On top of the wall she could see Finn getting into position on the center platform. As he was swimming up the side Lea saw the first member of the other team, an inkling in a soccer kit with lime green tentacles, appear on top. Finn didn't seem to care and kept swimming for the top.

'Doesn't he see the other squid?' She thought to herself. Lea watched Finn swim up the side and just before he reached the top he changed back to humanoid form and let off an uncharged shot at the green inkling. The inked squid splattered, leaving the top of the platform a friendly purple. Lea looked back towards their base to see Roy making his way towards them, his wide roller getting the spots of the ground they missed on their initial push. No sooner had he reached the center than a green squid jumped out behind him. Lea sprang into action. She pulled her weapon up into a firing position and squeezed off a few bursts at the green inkling. The octoling smiled as she saw the purple ink hit its target, finding the replica as effective at splatting squids as the real thing. Roy glanced behind him at the splash of purple, then turned to look up at her.

"Nice!" he yelled up, already heading into the other teams side. His roller was now painting over green and Lea noticed that there wasn't any uncovered turf.

'I get it.' She thought as she jumped down and began spraying over the green ink on the left side of the center now. 'It's not covering the ground, as much as covering more than the opponents cover.' A few gobs of green ink impacted around her and out of reflex she shifted into octopus form. 'And the best way to do that,' She thought as the green inkling, this one dressed in a baseball jersey and knit cap, started trying to ink where she might escape to. She changed back to humanoid form at the same spot she'd been, catching the squid off guard and covering him in purple. 'Is to cover the other teams ink.' The inkling splattered and Lea reflected that this was the Great Turf war, no modern combat itself, boiled down to a chaotic game.

"I like this." She said to herself with a smile. The octoling saw Roy turn down her side and she sprayed a path for herself up a wall. Shifting back into octopus form she swam up to the ledge that ran along the wall towards the opponents spawn, both spreading purple ink as they went.

~/~/~

"See, Lea isn't having any trouble." Octavian said with a sincere smile. He had gambled putting one of his guards in, but now it seemed it be paying off. His opposite number only nodded and continued staring at the field. After just long enough that Octavian had thought that he hadn't heard him the inkling opened his mouth.

"Indeed. I wonder how she'll deal with this though." Richardson said with a gesture. Octavian looked where the octoling on the field was and saw what the inkling meant.

"Oh." Was all he could manage.

~/~/~

Luckily for Lea, she looked down at her teammate when it happened. The Inkling with the large roller was barreling down the center of the lane, leaving a wide trail of purple ink, stark against the green. He never saw the charger that hit him. Lea watched the inkling splatter into a pool of green ink, with only a thin trail of green to show where the shot been from. Lea's head followed the trail and she saw the green inkling in a vest and camping hat aim at her.

She shifted into octopus form and let herself slip through the grate she was standing on. A second later the green ink flew through the place she'd just been.

'I'll swim around him and-' Lea's thought was cut short when she realized she landed in green ink. She shifted back to humanoid form and tried to walk out but found that it severely slowed her down. 'Gotta spread some more ink.' She thought trying to spray the area around her. 'Just a few more steps.' She nearly made it to the purple when the green ink hit her.

~/~/~

Lea once again felt the same backwards pulling sensation she'd felt when she first spawned in as she returned to the inkpad, though this time her stomach took it better. She stepped off the pad, observing as she did that the immediate area was mostly covered. She set about covering the largest areas that Roy's roller had missed or some green had intruded. As she was getting the last one covered she somehow heard Mary's voice from across the arena.

"C'mon!" Lea turned in the direction of the voice, but the terrain blocked any view she could have of the action.

'It'll take me too long to run over…,' Lea's thought trailed off as she thought of something else. 'That could work.' She shifted into octopus mode, tried to aim herself as best she could at Mary's voice, and super jumped in that direction.

For some reason Lea couldn't guess this jump took her higher than any she had ever made in Octovalley. She felt herself arc up high above the playing field. Focusing, the octoling forced herself back into humanoid form while still in the air. She had just enough time to look over and see the booth she'd inspected earlier, now inhabited by Richardson, Octavian, and both of their bodyguards. For the briefest of seconds, her eyes locked with Ian's.

Rapidly descending now, she focused on the battlefield below. Mary had her back against a low wall and there were two green inklings on either side of her. Lea trained her octoshot on one of the attacking squids and let off a flurry of ink. The inkling splattered and Lea landed next to Mary.

"Good timing octoling!" Mary yelled. Lea saw the purple inkling press the button on her weapon that she remembered Ian told her was for the special. Instantly a semi clear bubble appeared around both Lea and Mary.

"What the?" Lea asked aloud. A trio of ink blots slammed into her bubble, but aside from pushing her a little she was fine. Lea watched Mary run at the last green inkling, her ink splattering the squid and the area around him while the green ink bounced off her bubble. Lea jumped over a low wall and set about inking purple over green. She enjoyed the shield for a few moments before it disappeared. Mary's must have gone out as well because she heard the female inkling scream just after her bubble popped. Lea sprinted back to the center of the arena as the timer above her showed 30 seconds remaining. She inked over the green on the ground and looked around for any teammates.

'Mary must've been splattered.' She decoded. 'But I don't see Finn either.' She looked towards the other teams spawn and her blood went cold. Coming from all sides were all four green squids. Two down the center and one from each side. Lea took a step back and noticed the special button on her weapon was flashing. She bit her lip. 'Whatever Ian said it does had better be good.' She thought as she pressed it.

Instantly her octoshot started to unfold in her hands, changing around until it resembled a large, shoulder fired ink launcher. Lea grinned. "All right!"

Green ink was already coming at her but the octoling stood her ground. She fired twice at the two inklings in the center, and her smile grew wider as she saw the purple tornados fly out from her weapon. The attacks hit her opponents' dead center, covering what had been a green path with a dark purple. Green ink came at her from both sides but she shifted to octopus form and charged down the path she'd just made. The green inkling followed her and she jumped out of the ink and fired three more tornados at her attackers. The inklings exploded into purple ink. Lea kept firing all around her, vaguely aware of a beeping sound. As her inkzooka reverted back to an octoshot a loud whistle went off and the trigger on her weapon locked.

~/~/~

Lea found herself breathing hard once the match had ended. She thought she was still alone in the center but a quick look around revealed that both Finn and Mary were nearby. She noticed that both inklings were looking up at one of the big screens that were on either side of the arena.

The screens showed an overhead view of the field and Lea could see where the purple and green ink had covered the field. She bit her lip. Ian had told her that the victor was the team that coved the most turf with their color ink and it looked pretty close. The image on the screen changed to show a rather large creature with white and black fur.

"What's that?" Lea wondered aloud.

"That's Judd." Roy said appearing next to her suddenly. "He's the judge for turf wars." Lea watched Judd look down at the turf, nod and then stare at the camera. A graphic bar appeared on the bottom of the screen that began to fill with the two colors of ink that represented the teams. Both sides filled to 40% when Judd paused and reached behind his back. After just a minute to make Lea and her teammates nervous, he jumped to the right side and held out a purple flag.

"Hey hey, I'll take that win!" Roy announced with a swing of his roller. He swung it a few times and struck a pose resting it on his shoulder.

"50-45 is still pretty close though." Mary said jumping into the air before holding her weapon above her head and striking a pose as well.

"Good job Lea, now strike a pose!" The octoling turned around to see Finn striking a pose different than the other two.

"Huh?" She asked. Roy winked at her.

"It's part of the game." He yelled. Lea bit her lip and decided to do the only weapon trick she knew. With a smug expression she tossed her replica octoshot up in the air with her right hand and caught it with her left. The crowd seemed to be waiting for that and as she caught the weapon they erupted into cheers.

~/~/~

"He's here sir. Downstairs." Sarah whispered to her superior. Richardson nodded. The cheers of the crowd would cover their conversation.

"We'll take our guests downstairs and began immediately." He looked over his other shoulder. "Ian?" The blue squid moved in closer.

"Sir?"

"Go retrieve the octoling. I don't think our guest will want to negotiate before the rest of his party is with him." Ian nodded and took off for the locker room. Watching him go Richardson saw a strange emotion leak into his movement. 'Excitement?' He wondered. 'Why would he be excited to see that octoling again?'

 **A/N: Hey guys I'm really interested to hear what you all think of this chapter. I've never tried to put something quite like a Turf War into words and I hope it was clear and exciting!**


	5. Chapter 5

**A/N: New week, new chapter.**

"Real Fresh moves out there octoling. Great job!" Lea looked back from the locker to see Roy holding out his hand for a high five. She hesitated for a moment and completed the gesture.

"Thanks it was…fun." Roy nodded and spun the lock on his locker. He opened his mouth to say something else when a different voice cut in.

"You did pretty well out there," Lea looked behind her and saw Mary changing her shoes. "For an Octoling that is." Lea frowned but before she could reply a third voice spoke up.

"Easy Mary, we did get a win after all." Finn said zipping a duffle bag shut. He shifted his attention to Lea. "And you did do pretty good out there Lea. If you ever get back to inkopolis, you'll always be welcome on our team." The squid smiled at her and Lea forced a small smile back.

"Thanks." She managed. While fun, Lea had no intention of ever coming back to the inkling city once this mission was over. Finn seemed satisfied and started heading out of the locker room. As he was leaving he nearly ran into someone.

"Woah, sorry." Lea, her octoling uniform and armor back on, looked over to see Ian enter the locker room. He looked around for the octoling for a moment, before walking over to her. Behind him Mary and Roy walked out of the locker room.

"Hey Lea, great job out there!" He said. For some reason hearing him say the same words she'd just heard from her teammates made her smile a little. The octoling regained her composure and held out the octoshot to him.

"Thanks, umm, here. Thanks again for letting me use this," She gestured to the weapons in the locker. "I don't think I would have done as well with one of those." Ian smiled and took the octoshot replica.

"No problem, I'm glad it worked out for you." Lea felt her cheeks burn a little. Ian didn't seemed to notice and kept talking. "We're about to start the actual negations, there're going to be here in the stadium." Lea nodded and closed the locker.

"Good," she said, happy to be able to focus on her job again. "Let's get going then." She started to head out of the locker room at a quick pace.

"Hold on! You forgot these!" Ian called. Lea spun around to face the inkling. Her octarian about face was perfectly executed and combined with Ian's pursuit brought her face inches from the inklings. In perfect sync both of their faces turned red and they leaned back from each other awkwardly. "Um, your kelp…you asked me to hold it for you…" Lea looked down at Ian's hand and her face went a little redder.

"Th-thanks…" She took the seaweed and put them back where they belonged in her tentacles. "I guess it wouldn't have been too professional of me to forget these." Ian nodded awkwardly and she got them into place. She took a deep breath. "Ok, now let's get going." She turned back around and started walking out of the locker room. 'What is going on with me?' She wondered.

~/~/~

Less than an hour later Lea was re-armed and standing at attention outside of a large conference room. This was easily the most dangerous part of the mission. If any of the squids were going to try something fishy, this would be the time. Before they could come to any kind of treaty. Lea scanned the area again, but except for the female inkling bodyguard, Sarah she thought her name was, the area was empty. The floor was supposed to be cleared for them, and the official news reports had that the talks would be going on somewhere else entirely. Lea sighed.

'Why'd this have to be me?' She thought. 'At least once he's done in there I can go home and worry about my squad.' Her mind wandered and she wondered how Ana and the rest of third squad were doing without her. Fine probably, but she still wanted to be back.

~/~/~

Inside the conference room Octavian leaned back in his chair. He considered Richardson's words for a long moment before nodding.

"That is reasonable." He paused and collected his thoughts. "For the time being all Octarians will continue to honor the cease fire laid out in the original invitation and there will be no more raids of the zapfish that reside in inkopolious." Richardson seemed pleased.

"Excellent. Now, I don't see any reason that we can't more on to a formal treaty, but first I need to level with you." Octavian raised an eyebrow. "There is more behind our sudden motivation to reach out to your people than simple goodwill." From a far door an inkling entered carrying a clear container. "Something has been found out in the ocean that threatens both of our species." The inkling set the container down on the table in front of Octavian. "Do you know what this is?" Octavian looked at the containers contents.

"We do have super sea snails in Octovalley, yes." He looked at Richardson intently. 'Is this some kind of joke?' He thought. The inkling motioned to the container.

"Please look again." Octavian frowned but looked down at the shelled creature again. This time he noticed it. Instead of the usual blue, the skin of this snail was grey. The already tiny eyes seemed smaller as well. The octoling grabbed the container and turned the shell around, finding a trio of grey bulbs on the back of the creatures shell.

"No…it can't be…"Octavian muttered. Across the table Richardson seemed to hear him.

"You've seen barnacles before then?" Octavian nodded. "Then you know how serious this is." The squid turned in his chair to the wall between them and the screen there lit up. "Barnacles survive as the ultimate parasite, though our historians tell us they weren't always this way. Immobile themselves they wait until a suitable host comes close and attach themselves to them. In a matter of minutes the organism, be they snail, inkling, or otherwise, becomes nothing more than their puppet. A husk for the barnacle to control." A graph lit up on the screen. "While this danger was always known, recently they have been found in large numbers closer and closer to shore. They have also been more and more aggressive." Octavian tilted his head to one side.

"Aggressive? How so?" The inkling gestured to the graph. On it a large blue bar was visible.

"This graph represents all of the citizens, that is inkling, jellyfish, urchin what have you, who call this city home." A small portion of the top of the graph turned red. "This 3% represents the population known to have had contact with barnacles."

'That doesn't look so bad.' Octavian thought. Another, much larger section of grey appeared on the bar.

"This 19% however represents citizens that have gone missing under very similar circumstances. In all cases their jobs or activities could have put them into direct contact with barnacles." Richardson paused and looked back at the octoling. "Those creatures are up to something out there. What I don't know but we need to be ready for it." He put his hands on the table, palms up. "We have out agents, but no standing army. This is becoming a numbers game and our people just don't have the training to combat this. That is why we need your help."

For a long moment Richardson just leaned back in his chair. This was something he truly hadn't expected. He had expected them to want something from the octarians of course, they were all but surrendering after all, but not this. There were no barnacles in octovalley, their water all came in from a spring, but recon patrols along the coast had gone missing in the past. Barnacles were likely. They were always thought of as a dangerous form of wildlife until now. Now it seemed the parasites were intelligent. He shook his head, letting his tentacles shake. Now was the time to focus. He had the authority to make a decision here, and his people would be counting on him.

"Do understand what you're asking me? In all of the valley there are less than 800 octarians left, and the army itself only half that." Richardson nodded gravely.

"It is likely that in a conflict with the parasites a great deal of lives will be lost, however if we do not band together I believe that they will overrun us here, then move on to your people in the valley." Octavian shook his head.

"What could you offer us that will make all of my people risk both their lives and the species to help our oldest enemy?" It was the inklings turn to lean back in his chair. He bit his lip, opened his mouth, closed it, and then opened it again.

"Peace. Peace between our people. If octarians and inklings were to take up arms and fight side by side in defense of both of our livelihoods, I can't imagine that we'd go back to fighting." He paused here and seemed to be looking at something. "Can you see it friend? The future our peoples could build together. Inklings living in octovalley and octolings here in inkopolous." Octavian took a deep breath. He could see it in his head and he wanted to see it with his eyes.

"We'd need a few things to at least be on the same playing field. Some zapfish, the return of any prisoners of war." Richardson nodded.

"Of course. I'll make the arrangements. I also had an idea come to me while we watched the turf war earlier…"

~/~/~

"Do you understand then Lea?" The octoling elite failed to mask her surprise and building rage.

"I'm afraid I don't sir." The tone of that last word was just on the wrong side of respectful. Octavian decided to ignore it and simply frowned instead.

"I don't like this either but things are moving fast now and the situation is far more serious than we thought." He adjusted his posture to stand a little straighter. "For the good of our own race you will need to stay here." Lea felt more like a hostage being exchanged than a military advisor tasked to help train the local squids. Even if the barnacles were as bad here as the diplomat had said.

"I understand that sir, but surly there's someone more qualified than me." Octavian shook his head.

"They asked for you personally. It looks like you impressed them in their own sport." Lea grit her teeth.

"I see sir." She managed. She didn't really see, but she had been a soldier long enough that she knew how to follow an order that she didn't like. The octarian ambassador smiled.

"Good. You won't be alone for long Lea. More of our forces will be coming here and I'll see to it that your squad will be one of them." Lea strained to keep her hands at her sides.

"Thank you sir." Inwardly she cursed. Male octolings just didn't get the army did they? Octavian left her and moved to talk to Mia while Lea took the moment to let out a big sigh. She closed her eyes and ran a hand through her tentacles. This wasn't anything like what she expected when Kia had told her about this mission.

"Is everything alright?" Lea's eyes snapped open and she saw Ian standing in front of her. The inkling had a concerned look on his face. Lea shook her head.

"Nothing." She said searching for something else to talk about. "So it looks like I'll be staying here for a while." The inkling seemed to miss the sarcasm in her voice.

"Yeah, well…It'll be good to have you here. I uh," Ian looked off to the side. "I'm glad you'll be here." Lea felt her cheeks quickly flush a little at the comment. She brought her free hand up to her face to try and cover it.

"Uh, thanks…" Her eyes scanned the room for something else besides the inkling next to her. "It…it looks like they're setting up for a photo." Ian looked over to the center of the room to see that the octoling was right. Richardson and Octavian were both standing over a large document spread out on an ornate table. First the inkling, then the octoling reached over the table and signed their names on the bottom of the paper. Flashes from dozens of cameras went off as they did so and both men faced each other and shook hands.

'Is that it?' Lea thought. 'Is that all it took and the war is over?' She frowned. It didn't seem right. As she watched the scene a painful thought hit her. 'What would Fia think of this?'

 **A/N: Thanks for all of the reviews so far, and thanks to the guest who had some suggestions. I can't believe I forgot to put that in when I made the story.**

 **Please let me know what you think of the story so far. Also splatfest this week! Which teams are you all choosing?**


	6. Chapter 6

**A/N: Guys. You would not believe how bad my March was. I managed to tear muscles in my wrist, shoulder, and ankle, get a concussion, and my cars engine exploded a little. None of that excuses a chapter this late, but it's all part of the reason.**

 _Lea hopped over the short barrier. The chest high concrete blocks formed a small fighting ring which already held another combatant. All around the ring were the other trainees. They all watched with anticipation as the two octolings squared off in the middle of the ring. Lea raised her gloved hands and so did her opponent. From one side of the ring an elite octoling wearing an instructors hat raised a hand and yelled._

" _Fight!" Lea charged in, her right fist raised. She hurled that fist at her opponent but the other trainee was fast enough to dodge the attack and her right fist flew into Lea's gut. Lea felt the air rush out of her lungs. She staggered but managed to block the follow up jab with her right forearm. She swung her left arm in a wide arc aiming her fist at her attackers head, but with the air out of her lungs the haymaker was far too slow for an already too fast opponent. The other octoling grabbed the arm coming at her and in one motion pulled her closer with one arm and put her left fist into Lea's forehead. The octoling saw stars on the edge of her vision and lost her balance. Her opponent had let go of her as the punch connected and she fell onto the concrete floor. Lea looked up and slowly shook her head. The other octoling raised her right arm but stopped as Lea's right arm slapped the floor._

" _Alright sis, you… you win…" Lea managed out of breath. Fia scowled down at her sister._

" _Octolings never give up." She replied. "They never surrender."_

Lea's eyes snapped open. To her surprise she was no longer laying on the ground back in basic training, but sitting upright in bed and covered in sweat in the simple quarters the inklings had given her. She blinked a few times as her eyes adjusted to the dark room. The octoling took a deep breath and closed her eyes.

'It's that dream again.' She thought as she ran a hand through her tentacles. 'I knew I should have gotten something to drink last night.' She'd forgone her nightly libation in favor of an early rest. She did want to be ready for whatever kind of training the squids would have for her the next morning. Her still focusing eyes found a digital clock, the only light in the room, and she made out the numbers.

"0602." She said aloud. "It's about time to get going anyway."

~/~/~

Lea was alone. It was now 7:00 AM and as she stood on what passed for parade grounds at the inkling agent headquarters she saw that she was the only on there. She shook her head.

"Lazy Inklings." She muttered. From when the octoling had woken up an hour ago, she had showered, cleaned her new quarters, and gotten in full battle uniform and arrived at the parade grounds at exactly 6:25. She'd expected some inklings to be there already as and the morning formation to begin at 6:30. Lea sighed. 'I don't get it.' She thought. 'The sun has already started to rise.' When she woke up she had been worried about where she would stand in the formation, but now it looked like there wouldn't be one at all. After another five minutes with no inklings in sight she decided she needed to be doing something.

~/~/~

Ian was awoken by a trio of knocks on the door to his quarters. He rolled over in the bed and looked at the clock. The digital numbers showed the time as a little after seven. Hours before the first formation. There was another series of knocks and the Inkling groaned and pulled off the covers. He stumbled through an apartment lit only by the sunlight which crept through the cracks in the blinds. Ian maneuvered out of his bedroom and through the combined dining room/kitchen. He reached the door just as a third set of knocks started and without bothering to look through the peephole pulled the door open. Instantly his half closed eyes flew open at the sight of black and red tentacles.

"Lea?" He rubbed his eyes to make sure he wasn't seeing things. "What're you doing here? It's only-"

"Already past seven and no one is up." To Ian the octoling looked legitimately concerned. He simply starred at her for a moment.

"Uh, yeah…" She didn't react so he continued. "We usually don't get started until around ten." Lea's right eye twitched.

"Ten! You squids don't start until ten?" Lea shook her head and put a hand over her face. "How?" Ian didn't understand the problem.

"I guess we just like to sleep in." As he spoke Ian reflected a history lesson he'd had on the Great War. Back then the octolings always had early attacks. In fact, the inklings inability to wake early had nearly cost them the war. 'Of course she doesn't get it.' He thought rubbing his eyes.

"It's just how we do it here." He said with a shrug, too tired for a real explanation. Lea crossed her arms and frowned. Ian smiled a little. Maybe he was still getting up but he couldn't help but find her cute like that. Her voice took on an annoyed tone.

"Well can you point me to the gym then?'' Ian shook his head.

"It's locked until after first formation." Lea's frown deepened.

"Is there a landmark or something a few miles out that I can jog to then?" Ian felt himself falling back to sleep.

"Umm…if you were to run to the tower…. Uh, in the plaza that would be…" He gestured vaguely in the direction. Lea shook her head and grabbed his hand.

"You can just show me." Ian blinked.

"Huh?" Lea nodded towards the shoes sitting by his door.

"Get ready and meet me downstairs in five minutes." She let go of his hands and started walking down the hall. Ian watched her disappear around the corner and blinked a few times.

"Did that just happen?"

~/~/~

The building Ian lived in was a large apartment set aside to house the agents of inkopolis. It bordered the central parade square making up a fourth of the Agency fortifications. With the capture of DJ Octavio and the reveal of his plans that had grown up under all their noses the Agency had been reactivated. The old buildings which had been out of use for over four decades were put back into operation and their ranks began to fill up. Beside the apartments there was a central command building, a large gym and a small turf war court. Each building wrapped around the central square and the agency itself was on the edge of the city near the airport. Thinking this all over on his way downstairs Ian decided that the central plaza would make a good target to run to.

He yawned for the third time since he'd left his apartment, tying his tentacles back as he went. He had changed into a basic tee and the Banana basics Lea had pointed to and was now nearly to the lobby.

'What am I doing?' He thought as he descended the stairs. He wasn't sure what had Lea up so early. History aside, he'd assumed the waking up early stuff had been a stereotype. He reached the last step and could see the octoling waiting for him outside through the glass walls of the apartment.

Lea was dressed the typical octoling shirt, though with the metal chest armor removed it Ian saw it was more of a tank top. Very simple sneakers he hadn't seen before were strapped to her feet. And as she stretched Ian saw she'd tied her tentacles back with an Alice band. She turned around and Ian noticed that octoling tank tops were fairly generous under the armor. Lea noticed him and waved, her earlier annoyed mood replaced with one of excitement that Ian was sure the impending physical exercise had something to do with. He stepped outside.

"Ready to go?" The octoling asked. Ian took a deep breath and decided that he couldn't delay the inevitable.

"Yeah, let's get started. We're going to that tower over there." He said with a gesture to the central plaza tower in the distance. Lea looked over at the tower then turned back to him and smiled. Ian blushed and looked away. They took off but before he'd even started running Ian's knees already felt weak.

~/~/~

'This is awkward' Lea thought as they finished what she judged to be the first mile. Ian had guided them to a path that followed an elevated train track towards that center. Early as it was there were no cars on the road and they could run down the middle of the street. With the track to guide them Ian didn't have to give her directions and they had fallen into a steady pace in silence.

If it was the morning run she took her squad on every morning back in Octo valley she'd start a chant to keep cadence and motivate the soldiers. Unfortunately the only cadences she knew were about killing invading inklings. She glanced around, looking for something to talk about.

"So you're an agent?" Lea ventured, unsure of the answer she was even looking for. Ian's head looked over and she saw he was out of breath.

"Wha…what?" He said having trouble matching the octolings pace and speaking at the same time. Lea changed to a slower stride and repeated herself.

"Your one of these inkling agents?" She asked. Ian tilted his head back in understanding.

"Oh, yeah. I'm agent 6." He said. Lea nodded and another thought struck her. Octavian had said that the inklings lacked a standing army.

"Are there a lot of agents?" Ian took a deep breath.

"Well we're all volunteers so the numbers really aren't too high, but with the agency being reactivated we're up to twenty-five." Lea's face twisted in surprise and Ian must've noticed. "What?" They rounded a corner and moved onto a sidewalk.

"Only twenty-five volunteers? Do you have any conscripts?" She replied. Ian shook his head.

"Of course not. Who would…?" He trailed off and Lea could see the thought form on his face. "Were you conscripted?" Lea forced herself to look forward as she replied.

"Me and my sister." After a few moments of silence she elaborated. "For most female octolings military service is a point of pride. If we hadn't been forcibly recruited, we would have joined on our own." This seemed to put the inkling at ease they jogged in silence for a few more minutes, getting close enough to the tower that was their target that some of the buildings around them were beginning to obscure it from view. Before they were quite to the tower Ian spoke up.

"Is you sister an elite too?" Lea glanced him before turning her attention back to the street. No longer quite as early now it was beginning to fill with traffic. They rounded the last corner before Lea tried to respond.

"Fia? No she…" The octoling elite trailed off as she took in the sight of Inkopolis Plaza. Lea had never seen so much color. Though it was nearly empty of people at the moment she could see where different ink had splattered the walls creating a mix of colors she would never see in Octo valley. She slowed to a stop as a catchy jingle pulled her attention upwards. Hanging above the plaza was a large television reminiscent of the screens that lined the kettles back at the Octoling base. The screen came on and a strange logo changed to show female inklings.

"Hold onto your tentacles!" The black tentacled one said.

"It's Inkopolis News Time!" The second one said. Lea squinted her eyes. She wasn't sure but those two inklings looked familiar.

"Let's unveil the current stages!" The first one continued. The second one nodded as Ian caught up to the octoling, significantly more out of breath.

"Cool." He said between large gulps of air. "I wonder what the stages will be." Lea frowned, but decided to watch first and ask questions later. The background behind the inklings on the screen changed to show a skate park.

"I'm bad at skateboarding…I'd probably break a bone." The black inkling said with a shrug.

"Squids don't have bones, but whatever…" The white inkling replied. There were a few chuckles from the inklings and jellyfish in the plaza and Lea decided this must be a regular thing. The screen changed again this time to a large dome.

"Hey Marie, What do me a Kelp Dome have in common?" The back squid asked. The white squid looked thoughtful.

"Your survival requires constant attention?" She ventured. There was another round of laughter from the growing crowd.

'Definitely a regular thing.' Lea thought. The black inkling smiled.

"Until next time…" Both squids struck a pose with their hands palm down.

"Stay Fresh!" They said together. The screen clicked off and Lea looked over to see that Ian had caught his breath.

"Does it all make sense?" He asked no longer looking like he was about to fall down. Lea found herself staring at him and quickly turned her head away just in time to see the elevator at the base of the tower light up and four inklings step inside.

"I think so. So those stages are for turf wars?" Ian smiled.

"That's right. They change every few hours, just to keep everyone on their toes and Callie and Marie always announce the changes." The inkling said with a gesture to the screen. Lea nodded it all made sense. She was getting the feeling that everything revolved around these turf wars.

"Do you ever participate in turf wars?" She asked. Ian smiled wider.

"Oh yeah, all the time. You need to be even be an agent." Lea tilted her head.

"Really? What…kind of weapon do you use?" She asked actually curious for the first time. Ian kept smiling.

I try a little bit of everything, that one you used yesterday? That's one of my best." Lea felt her face flush. Luckily for her the inkling had turned his attention to his watch. "It looks like the train is leaving soon. We can take that back to the Agency." This was enough to change the octoling's focus.

"Train back? No we're _running_ back." She grabbed Ian's hand and started running the way they came. "C'mon." Ian tried to keep up.

"But it's almost time for formation." Lea felt herself smile.

"Then we'll just need to run faster."

 **A/N: I'll try to keep the breaks between chapters shorter, thanks for sticking with me and I'm really happy people are enjoying this!**


	7. Chapter 7

**A/N: Finally posting these after way too long.**

Ian jumped to the left as his opponents ink came at him. His dive turned into a roll and he came up in a crouch, letting off a burst of ink from his aerospray RG. The ink splashed harmlessly on the far wall, his target nowhere in sight. Ian looked both ways for his opponent before noticing a purple trail of ink off leading off to one side. Ian realized too late what was happening. He spun to the side the ink trail lead to but before he could level his weapon he was covered in purple ink.

Ian felt a sensation he'd always thought of as falling backwards off a cliff as he was pulled into the spawn point and forced back into humanoid form. He looked across the small agency turf war court. Lea was smiling back at him, standing over the same spot he'd been standing a moment before. There was a bell from above and Ian heard the trigger on his weapon lock.

"Well done there Octoling." An old voice called from the side. Lea and Ian both looked over to see a very old squid and a few younger agents walk onto the field. Ian saluted the old inkling and Lea gave what Ian assumed was the octoling salute. He returned the gestures and continued talking. "Now you four saw what Lea did there? That's a classic move. It only works against a skilled opponent, since it requires them to dodge out of the way, but its mighty effective when you make it work because of that." He motioned with his cane to the locker rooms. "Get suited up and pair off to try it yourselves." As soon as the other inklings had saluted and run off he sighed and pointed at Lea and Ian. "You two," he said. "Come with me." Without another word he turned and started off out of the building. The inkling and octoling exchanged a confused glance then hurried after the old squid, catching up with him as he crossed the parade grounds.

"Back when I started this agency, after the Great War, we had over a hundred agents." He said as they reached him. "Of course with things staying quiet long enough, the big squids upstairs started wondering why so much money was going to this agency." They passed a large stature in front of the Agency headquarters building of a male and female inkling standing back to back with weapons raised. "Never mind it was because of this agency that nothing ever got far enough to be an emergency." The group walked past the statue and the old inkling continued talking as they reached the large glass doors of the building. "Now it takes another emergency to get it going again. Guess I should be glad it isn't just me and two agents anymore though."

As he finished speaking they entered the lobby of the Agency headquarters. The lobby was nothing short of impressive. Large floor to ceiling windows allowed sunlight in to reflect off spotless white floors and walls. The only color was added by dozens of inkrails that ran from the lobby to various parts of the building, all different colors and all changing as different inklings used them. On either side of the mass of inkrails were large staircases to the upper floor for the non inklings or those who preferred to walk. The inklings, jellyfish, and other creatures that walked through the building's lobby weren't agents the same way Ian was, the octoling had learned. They were specialists, analysists, and support personal, filling the same roles as lesser octos did in Octo Valley. More and more it seemed to Lea that becoming an Agent was as difficult as becoming an elite.

The old inkling led them through the lobby and past the stairs to a secluded conference room. He opened the door to admit them inside, then closed it behind him. Lea heard the door hiss, an indicator that the room was sealed.

"What I am about to tell you is top secret, not to be discussed with anyone else except myself and senior agents I identify." Lea and Ian both nodded and the old inkling motioned to the table. They took a seat and the projector started. "You are both already aware, given the nature of your last assignments that the peace between our species has been ignited on account of an increase in barnacle activity." The projector showed the picture taken only a week ago at the signing of the treaty. Lea reflected that just as Octavian had said, things were moving fast. "Jack and Jill inkling may know that barnacles are a threat but they don't know how bad they really are. That's where you two will come in." The screen changed to show a map of the city. Inkling maps weren't so different from octoling and Lea could spot the tower which she had run to with Ian that morning last week. Inkopolis seemed to streach in all directions from that tower. Skyscrapers and other office buildings spread out from around the tower and in between the towers parks and other public areas were visible. To the North the city gave way to a sprawling suburban area while to the south a network of docks ran along the waterfront. Lea noticed again how the inklings home was both similar and different from her own in Octo valley. The valley contained many of the same structures, although underground, but now most of the skyscrapers sat empty. The octos needed for them having passed on in the Great War and their population had never really recovered. The old squid gestured to the docks.

"We got a witness who was delivering something to a warehouse on the waterfront. According to him the people receiving the package showed all the signs of barnacle control." Ian raised a hand.

"Wait, I don't understand. If they were being controlled by a barnacle, what kept him from attacking the delivery guy?" Lea tilted her head so the inkling explained. "Barnacle possession removes your sense of self control and self-preservation instincts…They're just a husk for the barnacle." The old inkling nodded and leaned forward on his cane.

"That's what's interesting. Our witness identified the barnacle on his customers' neck, but aside from grey tentacles and some odd word choices, the inkling he spoke to was normal." He leaned back and flipped the slide to show a set of graphs depicting inklings infected and those likely infected. "Based on numbers alone we should be experiencing a major attack from the barnacles right now but we aren't. They're up to something." Lea spoke up this time.

"Do we have any idea what?" The octoling asked. The inkling shook his head.

"No but that's where you two will come in." The screen changed back to the map. "I want you to do some recon in the area our witness saw these guys, and find out exactly where they are held up."

"And when we find them?" Lea asked.

"Investigate and find out as much as you can about what they are planning. And do so quietly. If the public finds out how big this is, it might accelerate whatever the barnacles have planned. Any questions?" Ian and Lea both shook their heads. "Then get suited up and head out." They turned to leave when the old inkling suddenly called them back. "Wait, wait! I almost forgot, Octoling…Lea. Something came for you."

~/~/~

Two hours later Ian and Lea sat in the front seats of a mid-size delivery van watching the row of warehouses indicated by the witness. They had decided to stake out the area to try and see which one, or ones, were being used as a barnacle base. Of course, it was more that Ian had decided and Lea deferred to his judgment. She was a soldier used to giving and taking orders, not spying. Ian on the other hand explained that this sort of thing was typical for an inkling agent.

They were sitting on a corner in the van watching the buildings with nothing but a few gulls in sight for 20 minutes before Ian broke the silence.

"So you said you have a sister?" He asked. Lea had begun to zone out and stirred in her seat, not expecting a question.

"Huh? Oh, yeah Fia. She was a year older than me but we still went through basic together after conscription." A long silence followed so Lea decided to try a question. "Do you have any siblings?" She asked. Ian nodded.

"Three older sisters." He said with a weary voice. Lea giggled.

"That must've been rough." Ian nodded.

"Yep, they were always trying to dress me up whenever dad wasn't around, which was a lot." Lea tilted her head to the side.

"Why was your dad gone a lot?" She asked. Ian shrugged.

"A single dad with 4 kids needs more than one job to provide for them. One of them was as a janitor at the agency so his being there helped me become an agent." Lea was about to talk about her own parents when another thought struck her.

"Ian, how long have you been an agent?" She asked. Ian looked up and thought the question over.

"Uh, for a little over a year I guess why?" Lea bit her lip, hesitant to continue with the current line of questioning.

"Did you ever go on any missions in the Valley?" She asked. Ian's eyes widened, then returned to normal. He opened his mouth to speak with movement outside the furthest warehouse caught their eye. Both inkling and octoling leaned forward and watched as a grey tentacled inkling pushed open the wire gate for the storage buildings yard and waved to an oncoming delivery truck.

"That's our building." Ian announced. Lea nodded and started moving to the back of the van. "Ok, just like we planned." Ian said as he climbed out of the cab. He tapped his earpiece and Lea did the same.

~/~/~

In order to blend in better Ian had left the reflective agent gear back at the base, settling instead for an inky rider jacket, headphones, and a pair of Banana Basics. The look was fresh, but not overly so, picked to avoid drawing any attention. As he left the van and started down the street toward the warehouses Lea emerged from the back of the van.

With the peace treaty only a week old, an octoling in inkopolis would draw a fair bit of attention so rather than try to make Lea blend she would be on over watch. She climbed out of the van dressed in a janitor's boiler suit. Her tentacles were pulled back into a ponytail and a cap was pulled low over her head to hide the black limbs. She reached into the back of the van and removed a long duffle bag before shutting the door.

The octoling elite made a beeline for the door of the apartment they were parked in front of and went right inside. The inkling at the desk barely glanced at her before turning his attention back to the TV screen showing a turf war in progress. Lea walked past him into the elevator and pressed the button for the roof.

Once the elevator arrived on top she tossed the head gear and reached into the bag for her goggles. She'd been using the octoling equipment for so long that she felt unnatural to operate without them. The octoling moved to the edge of the building closest to the warehouses and began unpacking the bag.

The package that had arrived for her had been dropped off with a squad of octolings that morning. Two long black cylinders which when connected produced a golden tip from one end. A note from Kia identified it as a new version of weapon that had been developed with help from the inklings. She would have the honor of field testing the first octoling charger. It looked to Lea like a large pen. She laid down on the roof and looked through the simple optic on the weapon. The telescopic view allowed her to easily spot both the warehouse and Ian. She tapped the earpiece built into her goggles.

"In position."

~/~/~

"In position." Ian nodded to himself, looking more like he was bobbing his head to the music of his headphones, but he knew Lea would understand the gesture. He sighed as he walked slowly down the street. Over the training the past week the small reservations he'd had about being paired off with the Octoling had not only disappeared, they had been replaced by something else. A fondness. He wanted to be around her. Not that he hadn't been taken by the colors of her tentacles that day at the airport, but now…Ian wasn't sure what he was feeling. What he did know was that he didn't want to discuss the war with her. He had been to Octo Valley before and was hesitant to discuss his mission there. Although that wasn't what really bothered him. As much as he didn't want to tell her that, he really didn't want to learn that she had been to inkopolis before. The inkling shook his head.

'Gotta focus on the mission.' He thought to himself. He had nearly reached the fenced off area around the warehouse.

"Lea," he said over the radio. "Can you see inside? Is there anyone there?" There was a few seconds pause before the octolings voice came back.

"No, it's all clear in there. It looks like the blinds on all of the windows are pulled down as well, so I don't think anyone will be watching." Ian nodded.

"Rodger, I'm going in through the side." Ian continued walking past the gate and walked until he was nearly around the corner and leaned against the fence. He gave the street a quick look to see if anyone was watching, but there were no other inklings around. With practiced grace he push himself into against the fence and changed into squid form, sliding through the barrier and into the barnacle controlled base.

 **A/N: Let me know what you guys think of this chapter and thanks for reading!**


	8. Chapter 8

**A/N: Fun fact, this chapter and the last were originally one long one.**

Captain Cuttlefish watched the inkling and Octoling leave the conference room. He waited until they had moved well out of earshot to let out a great sigh. They seemed to be getting along, but he wondered how well the rest of the inklings and octos would do together. The thought had been on his old mind all day because he knew would be meeting someone who would help define those policies soon.

It would not be the first time he would be talking to this particular Octoling and he did not want it to be the last. The old squid moved his cane around in his hand, thinking over the last time he had met his old friend. DJ Octavio had restarted a major conflict, one that Cuttlefish had thought had been put to bed a long time ago, and also stolen the only power sources the inklings had. Friend or not, he had needed to be locked up. It hurt him to do it then, but now he found himself hurt to see him free.

He moved his cane to his other hand. Perhaps things would be different now with different leaders in charge in the valley. He had made it clear that while prisoners would be released, the disk jockey could not be allowed back in a leadership position. Fortunately, the octoling there to make peace made it clear that his bosses had no intention of reinstating their old leader. The aging Captain leaned back in his chair. The inklings he sent to get the Octarian from the airport should just be arriving there now.

~/~/~

"And how was your flight sir?" DJ Octavio, in his humanoid form for the first time since his capture, stretched his arms before adjusting his helmet.

"It's always good to fly." He stated to the octoling elite waiting for him on the tarmac. This elite had a crooked smile and as he watched her command the small squad that had arrived earlier that day he felt reassured that there was some hope for the Octo race. Inklings had arrived to receive him of course, but the elite had sent them away. The three octolings and this elite would be all the security he needed. The only thing they had taken from the inklings was an SUV to drive him the Agency HQ.

Octavio walked confidently down the tarmac to the waiting vehicle. He wasn't excited about the meeting that was about to take place, but he had reasoned that it was necessary if he was going to regain a position of power. He stepped into the back of the SUV and once he was no longer being watched he allowed a small frown to cross his features. Octarian society had no room for anyone weak or who showed weakness. Nothing showed weakness like a military defeat, let alone that he had been captured afterward. It was no surprise to him then that the council of octolings that had been appointed in his absence did not want him back in command.

Even so, his name still did carry a bit of weight with the elites. After all, they were the ones that had sent him here to coordinate the Octo side of the war effort. Maybe a victory here against the barnacles could bring him back to the top. As he considered these thoughts the car pulled onto the expressway and sped toward the agency headquarters. The former leader of all octos mused about how often he had planned to destroy that building.

'Now I am off to plan a different war there.' Something to the right of the car caught his attention and he looked out the window. In the car next to his on the overpass a pair of inklings, male and female, were staring at him. Octavio starred back for a moment before shaking his head. 'These inkling aren't worth my time.' He thought. In the next moment his car went flying.

The Squid Utility Vehicle he was riding in was suddenly hit from the left by a large garbage truck. Octavio and all of the vehicles occupants went rolling as their vehicle tumbled over to the side of the interstate, landing on its roof. The disk jockey shook his head to clear it and looked out of the window.

Next to the garbage truck three cars, including the one he had just been looking at, screeched to a halt and their occupants piled out. These inklings all took up firing positions with a variety of shooters and Octavio noticed that they all had grey tentacles. Shaken up as he was, he could easily spot the bulbs from the barnacles on them.

Springing into action the elites guarding the former supreme leader were already unbuckling themselves from the car and going for their weapons. The first two made it out only to be inked instantly. A torrent of grey ink then splashed onto the SUV, splatting even the octolings that were still getting unbuckled. Octavio was saved only by virtue of the octoling sitting next to him acting as a shield.

They stopped firing and as they began moving up to the car Octavio finished getting his belt off. He grabbed the Octoshot from the splatted elite and let off a blind spray. The attack had the intended result and the possessed inklings took cover, buying the octoling some time. He pulled the inktank from his guards back and holding it and the weapon he climbed out the broken window opposite the hostile inklings. Once out of the vehicle he considered his options.

The SUV had him more or less boxed in, and with no cover on either side, he decided he couldn't run to either side. Away from the car was out as well since the attackers had hit them at the highest point on the overpass. If he jumped off the elevated road he'd have to fall several stories. This left only one direction that he could go, into the enemy.

Never one to turn down a fight, Octavio turned to face his opponents without fear. Though much older now then he had been in the Great War, his skills were just as sharp. He inked the ground behind the car and went on the offensive. The octoling spun around the front of the SUV and fired off a trio of shots, each one hitting the inkling he was aiming at. Before they could return fire, he had dove back behind the car and into the ink trail he'd made. He reappeared at the other end of the vehicle to repeat the attack on another inkling.

'Too easy.' The Octoling thought. 'These inkling hipsters don't stand a chance against me.' No sooner had he completed that thought then the Octo shot he was holding exploded. Octavio looked up from where the shot had come from to see a grey inkling with a charger on top of the garbage truck. The inkling fired again and the DJ tumbled back from the hit. The last thing that DJ Octavio saw was the fist of a possessed inkling as it collided with his face.

 **A/N: What do you guys think? As of now I won't have a good internet connection, so expect updates to be like this weekend. Two or three chapters whenever I get back into service to post what I've written in the meantime. As always, thanks for reading!**


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